There are going to be riots about tactical battles. My answer is: Tough. Derek and I are doing them the way we want and not how we imagine other people want them. They are vastly funner (IMO). So why do I think some people will hate these? Because the tactical battles get going immediately.
On most maps, there is melee contact in the first turn. the units aren’t spending 2+ turns trying to run to each other. If you don’t want your archers massacred, you better have melee protectors for them. They’re not going to get 4+ turns of free shots at them. Without melee guards, they’ll be getting hits within a turn or two.
Now, I think most players are going to very much like the changes to tactical battles. First, there’s a lot more strategic variety on each map. More special abilities come into play and more of the skill will come from how you handle your units rather than feeling like you have to game the “first hit”. Initiative matters vastly more now too.
The tactical battle improvements are my personal favorite change over FE. FE tactical battles are a form of torture now.
May I suggest - allow players to pick a range preference (start combat at long range or short range) before each engagement ? The actual range the combat starts should be a factor of map, skills (tarth master scouts; or having a scout unit with the army for this bonus) , army size (smaller armies should get a bonus vs big armies) , total army experience levels , spell effects (stealth//camouflage) and of course army initiative ... With the right combination of factors ambushes should be possible but not the norm (as would appear from reading your post (player army ambushed by AI army in every combat)) ...
And of course some ability so pick the formation the units are positioned at the battle start .. Probably a template that can be set out of combat ...
Having some skill based ability to tactically reshuffle the army based on the terrain battleground (map) would be icing on top ..
========================================
Make elevation//terrain factors on the tactical battles .. +Range & damage for ranged units attacking targets on lower elevation ... Give movement bonuses/penalties for movement towards lower//higher elevation tiles ... Give defensive bonus/penalty for the terrain underneath ( defense bonus in forest/ defense penalty in swamp) ...
Add terrain based movement costs on the tactical battlefield (swamps, forest, rugged terrain ... )
==========================================
Allow spells have greater impact/shape on both strategical and tactical maps ... (earlier in the game)
Strategical - grow forest (life) - allow lumber-mill line of improvements , burn forest(fire), corrupt land (death) , raise/lower land(earth -already in but too late game) , drain river tile (air/water) , create water canal (water/earth) - connect city to nearby river - enable river based improvements
If units get various tactical terrain type bonuses - altering the would be tactical combat tile on the strategical map beforehand could turn the tide ...
Tactical : multitude of options - raise/lower land (earth) for the elevation bonuses, grow vines (impede movements/ defense penalty) , grow forest(defensive bonuses), allow fire spells area of effect for multiple turns - firewall (enhanced by presence of forest//grass on tile) ; ability to ignite certain tile types and burn for a few turns , allow water based spells to put out fires, allow air based spells to further enhance damage/tile spread for fires (combo) ...Allow earth spells to create and clear obstacles ...
Make magic a much greater factor on the tactical battles from earlier in the game ... (mana is currently terribly expensive/scarce in the early-mid game) .. And game is typically already won after that and plenty of mana will only reduce the grinding to the final victory a bit ...
==========================================
You've made pioneers cost population (good thing - you cannot manufacture population - you are not cylons/meklar/.. )
..In the same vein - most human trained units (not golems or other constructs) should cost population .
City defending units (militias) should cost population when killed during city sieges (they are essentially free atm)...
